Military Experience Helped This Maine Veteran Expand A Handcrafted Stool Company

OXFORD, Maine — When Brian Warren wanted to take over his father-in-law’s upscale stool business here, he used his Air Force training to assemble the needed resources. Fellow veterans who had started businesses in Maine referred him to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Center in Bangor for help to create a business plan and get funding to buy the 65-year-old business. And now that he’s owned it for a year and is planning to expand, he plans to link up with veteran-owned FreightCenter in Florida to save 40 percent off the cost of shipping the 20-pound hardwood kitchen stools made by his company, The Village Woodworker. “In the military you build up a brotherhood and sisterhood, a family, around you.